How to Find True Love
by WannaBeBabe
Summary: Ranger Manoso is Stephanie's true love, at least that's what Lula and Connie believe. Stephanie, however, says she doesn't believe in true love. So her friends set out to prove to her that it not only exists, but that she can have it. They have some fool proof ways to prove he's her soul mate, what could go wrong?
1. Prologue

****Author's notes…Okay, so I was reading some crazy old wives tales and this popped into my head and wouldn't leave. I hope it turns out to be a fun, little, romantic tale. There are some warnings for language, adult themes, and smut. It's definitely a Babe story, but I'm not going to hurt Joe. Also, there shouldn't be any serious book spoilers. Disclaimer, obviously these characters all belong to JE, I'm just getting Ranger naked again. Please let me know what you think…I love to read your reviews, especially on a new idea. Hopefully this one doesn't disappoint. Thanks for reading.****

Prologue

I looked over at my partner Lula and nodded. I watched as she got up and moved out of the theater. This wasn't the first time that we had to pick up a FTA that worked at the movie theater. This also wasn't the first time that we decided to see a movie before we made our move, we didn't get out much. It hadn't worked out last time. Our skip ran off with my handcuffs, but I think this time our plan was much better.

Not that it was much of a plan. Lula was going to leave ahead of me so she could cover the front door. I was going to be one of the last out of the theater, so I sat through the credits. When I finally walked out of the theater, the usher wasn't paying attention. The plan was that I was going to grab him and cuff him before he could put up a fight. Sounds simple enough, right?

Wrong. I pulled the handcuffs out of my bag as I approached from behind. He must have sensed something, because he turned around. He took one look at me and took off. Crap. I hate it when they run, but I ran after him anyway. He dove behind the concession stand. I rolled my eyes, idiot, it wasn't the best place to hide, it was just a circular booth in the center of the lobby. I kept my eyes on him as I circled the stand. "Craig Johnston, you missed your court date. I'm authorized by Vincent Plum Bail Bonds to bring you in to get you reprocessed," I called to him. It never worked, but I thought it was worth a try.

"Go away, Bounty Hunter Bitch," he shouted at me.

"I can't do that," I shouted back. The next thing I knew I was covered in steaming hot, yellow oil that smelled like butter, from my head to my feet. Then the asshole took off running, again. I tried to run after him, but my feet were covered in oil and I slipped on the tile floor. I watched as he ran right past Lula and out the front door. "Lula!" I screamed at her.

She turned away from the tall, well-built man that she was chatting up. She gave me a little shrug and went back to talking to him. Crap. I crawled to the rugs they kept near the front door for people to wipe there feet on and stood. I was finally able to walk without falling again.

I ran out the front door in time to see Craig, without a shirt on, give me the finger and take off through the parking lot. My eyes didn't follow him, they stayed on the spot he'd been standing a moment before. It looked like he'd jammed something into my gas tank and lit it on fire. I assumed it was his polo shirt.

I didn't try to get it out. I knew it was too late. I pulled my phone out of my handbag to dial the fire department, but my hands were still too greasy. The phone slipped through my fingers and fell down a sewer drainage grate. "Fuck my life," I mumbled as I sat down on the curb of the sidewalk and watched my newest POS car explode.

"Holy shit," Lula said with a big whistle. She sat down on the curb next to me.

"Thanks for the back-up," I mumbled to her.

"That there was a lineman for the Giants," she explained. "I haven't gotten any for weeks. I couldn't help myself."

"Weeks?" I growled at her as I got off the curb and faced her. I knew my face was probably red and my arms were probably swinging around as if independent of my body, but I didn't give a shit at the moment. I was pissed. "Weeks? I haven't gotten laid in seven months. Seven months, Lula, but do you see me trying to hump every good looking man that walks past me?"

She stood then, facing me. "Maybe you should. You don't know what it's like to work with you when you ain't getting any. You're a bitch," she growled back at me.

I think there was smoke coming out of my ears at that point. "I'm a bitch?" I shrieked. "I didn't throw my partner under the bus for a piece of NFL cock."

"Maybe you should," she mumbled again. "You need to get your ass laid."

"And how do you suggest I do that? I'm a fucking disaster. I'm a thirty-seven year old woman, destined to be single. I have a shitty job, a mean best friend, plus, I'm covered in toxic, fake butter, lost my phone in the sewer, and I blew up my fucking car, again. What kind of crazy man looks at all this and thinks, yeah, I'd like to fuck her?" I screamed at her.

"That kind," she muttered under her breath.

"Babe." It was spoken in a calm, deep voice and sounded like the man himself was standing only inches from my back. Of course, he had to choose that moment to show up. "Looks like you could use a ride."

I whirled around to face him, Ranger Manoso. The man that had been haunting my dreams and my sexual fantasies for the last seven years. The man that always wanted me while I was dating someone else, but the moment I was on the market, permanently backed off. He was always there, kissing me, teasing me, ruining my panties, but he hadn't once tried to get into my bed since I'd broken up with my ex. For seven fucking months he had been missing from my bed and I was sick of it. "I could use more than a ride, apparently." He lips turned up like he was thinking about smiling.

"The skip blew your car?" I just nodded. "What was he wanted for?"

"Arson."

Ranger's smile grew just a little. "How did he know it was your car?"

"He may have seen me staking out his apartment last week," I mumbled back.

"Babe." That one word spoken by Ranger could mean anything, but right then I think it meant I'd amused him again. He put a finger on my cheek and let it trail down over my neck to the top of my tee shirt. "Slippery," he said as more of a question.

"He dumped the popcorn butter on me," I mumbled.

He leaned in and touched his tongue to my neck. "You smell good enough to eat, Babe," he whispered to me.

I moaned. I couldn't control myself. I just wanted to tear off his clothes and rub myself on him. I was totally done with all the teasing. I need him and I swear to God if he isn't willing to give me at least five orgasms in the next twelve hours I'm going to go home and shoot myself. Just put myself out of my misery once and for all. I couldn't live like this anymore. "I bet we can do better than five," he growled in my ear.

I looked up at him with big eyes. I should have been embarrassed that I'd spoken my words out loud again, but I couldn't get there. I couldn't think about anything, but sex. Lots and lots of sex with lots and lots of Ranger-induced-orgasms. "Yes. Please."

"Bobby will drive you home," he told Lula as he pulled me toward his Cayenne. I looked up in time to see my ex-boyfriend's car pull into the parking lot. "You want to see him?" I shook my head no. Joe Morelli and I had been broken up for seven months and there was nothing left between us. He was a cop, so I'm sure he heard about the car and wanted to tease me, like usual, but I wasn't in the mood. The only thing I was in the mood for was nine inches of hard Cubin man banging me senseless and the sooner the better. "The guys will handle the cops and the car then." I nodded back to him.

Part of me wondered if Ranger didn't believe I was done with Joe, like maybe that was why he didn't make the final move before now. I wasn't sure how to make it more obvious though. I hadn't seen Joe socially in seven months. I looked up at Ranger and figured I should just stop worrying about it. He wasn't. In fact, he looked like he was as ready for this as I was.

When we reached his Porsche he opened the passenger door so I could crawl in and we were off toward his apartment. It was located on the top floor of his seven story building in downtown Trenton. The rest of his building housed the security company, RangeMan, which he owned and acted as CEO of. We pulled into the secured underground parking garage and took the elevator up to the seventh floor. Neither of us had spoken since we left the cinema and it made me wonder what was going on in his head. He still didn't speak when we entered the apartment. He just dropped his keys into the tray, kicked off his shoes, and pulled off his hoodie. I did the same as I watched him cross the floor.

He went to the kitchen, grabbed a bottle of dish soap from under the sink, and turned to me with a smile, the kind that melted the panties off my body. "Time to hose you down, Babe." I tried to swallow the desire rising up inside me, but it was pointless. He must have felt the same thing, because his brown eyes turned black as he looked me up and down.

He took my hand, pulled me into his bathroom, and put the dish soap on the counter. He just looked at me like he was waiting for me to try to escape, but I wasn't going anywhere. He pulled the tight, black tee shirt he was wearing over his head as he slowly stalked toward me. I couldn't pull my eyes away from the sight. The man was perfection, he didn't have an ounce of fat on him. He worked out and had the musculature to prove it. They weren't like bulging, meathead type muscles either, no, somehow they were just right. He had broad shoulders, large arms, a chest that they should immortalize in bronze, and eight pack abs that begged to be touched, with my tongue. Then he started to unbuckle his pants. Holy fucking hot flash.

He slipped his pants down his hips and let them pool onto the floor at his feet. He kicked them off and stood in all his glory, just watching me. I knew what he wanted, but to have him watch me undress didn't make me comfortable. Where his look seemed to combine underwear model with urban commando, even nude, mine was more thirty-something woman that had too many doughnuts this week.

I knew what I wanted though and I knew what I had to do to get it. I sighed and pulled the greased up, red tee shirt over my head, then shimmied down the skinny jeans that seemed to be sticking to my skin from the oil. When I'd finally gotten down to just the matching lacy, pink bra and panty set I stopped.

He just lifted an eyebrow at me as he smiled. "I can probably hose you down better if you take them off," he suggested.

I reached behind my back and unhooked the bra before sliding the straps down my arms. When I slowly pulled the material away from my breasts my nipples were hard and aching. God, I wanted him bad, and just his eyes on me was making me come undone. I finally caught the sides of my panties and started to shimmy them down my legs, but he took the final steps between us and yanked them off before they were even to my knees.

He started the water, then backed me into the glass enclosed shower stall. When I was pressed against the tile he took one of the shower heads from the wall and moved it up and down my body. The water beaded and rolled off me. I wasn't sure how I was going to get all that oil off me, but he had ideas.

That was what the dish soap was for. He squirted the cold, blue gel across my chest and smiled when I shrieked. His magic fingers moved over every inch of my torso, from my neck to my waist, massaging the soap into my skin, then rinsing me with the hot water. Then he moved onto my legs and feet, tenderly scrubbing my skin until the oil was gone. "Turn around," he commanded.

I tried my best to comply, but by that point I was almost boneless from the pleasure just his hands on my skin were creating. He chuckled a little when I wobbled, but he steadied me by pulling me against his chest. He kissed me thoroughly before he spun me and dunked me under the stream of water. After my hair was soaked he worked a palm full of the soap into my hair and scalp. I rinsed while he grabbed one of his soft washcloths to use on my face. "Am I clean?" I finally asked.

He trailed one of his fingers between my breasts. "Squeaky," he answered as he brought his hand up to cup my breast in his palm. "Do you want to stay that way?"

"Not hardly," I breathed as he moved against me, pressing kisses to my neck.

I turned the water off and grabbed the towel he had hanging on the hook near the door. He took it from me and rubbed it over my skin, drying me off before using it on himself. He dropped it to the ground, then picked me up and carried me to his bed.

He lowered himself on top of me and smiled before he started to kiss down my body. "I think I missed a spot, Babe," he told me in a husky voice. "Right here." I could only moan in response as he gave that particular spot a thorough tongue bath. Minutes later I screamed out in pleasure with the first orgasm of the night. The man was magic.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter one…The necklace dream

_A week later…_

This morning started off kind of weird, I guess I should have taken that as sign of what was to come. It was only eight thirty in the morning and I was already at work. That wasn't the craziest part, the crazy part was that it wasn't just the office manager, Connie, and I there, Lula was in early too. Connie, a fairly short Italian woman with big hair, big boobs, and a big attitude started the coffee so we could start our breakfast. Coffee, donuts, and daily gossip were on the menu.

Lula, who usually dressed like she was still working her former profession, as a hooker, was dressed almost demurely. She had on a dark rose colored dress. It was appropriately sized, knee length, had a rounded neckline that didn't show off her boobs, and ruching on the left side of her waist to give her figure just the right help. She looked really good.

I wasn't dressed so fine. I was in a pair of jeans, a soft, stretchy black tee shirt, and some black ballet flats, but I was still feeling pretty good. My dry spell was definitely a thing of the past. In fact, since the night Ranger took me home with him last week we'd spent every night together. I hadn't planned it, but I couldn't complain, the sex was amazing. The man held nothing back in the bedroom. Nothing. The thing was, outside the bedroom, he held it all back. I jury was still out on how I felt about that.

I leaned back on the leather couch and smiled. "You got a date, Lula?"

She grinned at me. "I'm going to have lunch at Marsilio's today."

"Damn, that's the third date this week," Connie said with a little eyebrow wiggle. "You know what they say about the third date."

"That's true," I agreed. "You have to put out now."

"I do not. I'm a lady now," she grumbled. "Unlike you sluts."

Connie and I both started laughing, hard. "So you and Bobby really haven't done it yet?" Connie asked.

I just smiled at her. He'd given her a ride home from the theater after I'd left with Ranger and they seemed to hit it off, somehow. "Well, we might have done a little something when he drove me home," she mumbled.

We laughed again. "I knew it," I said gleefully. "So are you planning a nooner?"

"If he plays his cards right. And what about you?" Lula asked with a raised eyebrow.

"What?" I asked back.

"You know what?" she grumbled. "Ranger showed up again last night, didn't he?"

"Yeah, you got that look on your face," Connie said pointing at me.

"The afterglow?" I asked with a little laugh, like I said, it was amazing.

"It's not just the sex," Connie answered as she narrowed her eyes at me. "You're in love."

"I'm not in love," I assured her. Lula laughed deeply. "I'm not. It's just sex."

"Hunh, like I believe that one." She grabbed a donut out of the box and turned on me. "You've been in love with that man for years. Now that you got him where you want him you're going to tell me you don't want it to be permanent?"

I rolled my eyes. So fine, maybe I was in love with Ranger, I had been for a very long time. He loved me too on some level, but that didn't change the fact that we weren't in a relationship. He didn't do relationships. He didn't want the commitment or the ties that came with such a thing. He'd never marry me and I had to accept that. We'd just have, this, whatever it was.

"You can't tell us you don't want something more than just sex with him, can you?" Connie asked with a knowing smile.

"Well, sex is all it can ever be, so can't we just let me be happy with what I do have?" I asked back.

"Why can't it be more?" Connie asked again.

"Because he doesn't want it to be more."

"I think you're crazy," Lula said as she sat down next to me. "That man has been in love with you as long as you have been with him." I sighed loudly, they weren't letting this go. "He was always touching you and kissing you even when he knew it wasn't gonna get him any. He gives you gifts and keeps track of what you're doing and saves your skinny ass all the time. No man does all that for a woman if he isn't in love with her."

"I never said he didn't love me," I mumbled. I couldn't argue when she put it that way, he did do all those things and so much more, and he never expected anything in return.

"He's said he loves you?" Connie asked in a surprised voice. I nodded yes. "Holy crap."

"Then why the hell aren't you together?" Lula grumbled. I shrugged and looked away. "Oh, fuck, no. You never told him that you love him, did you?"

"I can't tell him that, especially after he told me that we'd never have a future together. I'd just embarrass myself and drive him away. I need him, even if this is all he'll give," I pleaded with her to understand. Lula not understanding could cause big problems.

"You need to tell him," she said with a shake of her head.

"Yeah, I agree," Connie added. "He needs to know."

"He's your soul mate. I know it," Lula told me.

"There's no such thing."

Lula gasped like I struck her. "You're telling me you don't feel connected to him? You can't sense him when he's near? You can't hear one another's thoughts?"

I rolled my eyes. Of course we were connected. I got a weird tingle in the back of my neck every time he was near me. I didn't hear his thoughts, but he always seemed to know exactly what I was thinking. "That doesn't mean we're meant to be together."

"There are ways to test it, you know?" Connie asked. "Like did you ever dream about Ranger?" I laughed then. "Not the dirty kind of dreams."

I rolled my eyes again. "Sure. Last night I had a dream that he put this opal necklace around my neck," I said with a little laugh.

Connie typed something into her computer while Lula peered over her shoulder. "Hot damn," Lula said with a little smile.

"What?"

"Says here that if you dream a man puts a necklace on you, he's the man you're going to have a very happy marriage with," Connie said with a little grin.

"Oh, please," I said with a laugh. "I woke up and his fingers were touching the back of my neck. That's all."

"How come you don't believe us, but you believe in that hocus pocus that Bella Morelli tries on you?" Lula asked like she was offended. I just shrugged, there wasn't a good answer to that one. "I dare you to let us prove this isn't bull shit."

"Just leave it alone," I groaned. Connie decided to make a chicken sound at that point. I glared back at her.

"I double dog dare you," Connie said with a laugh while Lula continued the chicken sounds. Bitches.

"Fine. What do I have to do?"

"Just let us work our magic," Lula smiled. They both looked back down at the computer and laughed. "And if we can prove we're right you have to tell Ranger you're in love with him."

"Oh, shit," I muttered to myself. I was surely going to regret this.


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

It was still dark when I woke up to Ranger kissing my bare shoulder. I looked back at him and smiled. "Are you sneaking out on me?" I whispered to him.

"I have an early appointment," he told me.

I rolled over so we were facing and snuggled my face into his chest. "What if I don't want you to go?"

He nuzzled my hair as his arms wrapped around me. "I don't want to go either, but I'm afraid if I don't Judge Price won't be very happy with me. I have to be to the courthouse at seven-thirty to see the DA before I testify against the asshole that broke into the jewelry store." Of course he wanted to punish the asshole, the guy dented his car with a crowbar.

"Oh," I whispered back. I felt like an idiot. Here I was pouting and whining and he had things to do. He was a busy guy. He couldn't just sit around with me all day. It was probably one of the reasons he didn't want a relationship. He didn't want to deal with a clingy woman while he was out saving the world.

"Steph," he said quietly. I nodded back without looking up at him. "Would you like to have dinner tonight?"

I did look up then. "Not like a date?" I panicked.

He pecked my lips and smiled. "Like two people, alone, sharing dinner."

I felt my cheeks turn red. Of course it wasn't a date. I don't even know why I panicked when I thought it was, but when he said it like this I realized we'd shared plenty of dinners over the years. Even though we were alone together, those times clearly weren't dates and this wasn't either. I really am an idiot. "Sure. I'd like to share dinner with you."

"Good. Call or text me later with the time and place, anything you want," he told me before he kissed me until I couldn't think clearly enough to question what he'd said.

The next thing I knew he was rolling out of my bed and stepping into his cargo pants. I leaned up on one elbow to watch. He really did have the best ass in the entire world. "Babe," he said with a chuckle. "I beg to differ. I think your ass is much nicer." I was glad it was still dark in the room, since I knew the blush that crept over me must have had my face flaming. He crawled back over the bed, grabbed two handfuls of my ass cheeks and kissed me senseless again. "If I didn't have court I'd love to show you how much I love your ass."

Oh, boy. I moaned against his lips as he kissed me again.

"Babe," he moaned back. "You make it really hard to walk away." I wondered if that was one of those double entendre things as he rolled back over and stood. He was clearly very hard at the moment and tried to adjust himself through the cargo pants before slipping into his shoes and tee shirt. He walked around the bed, collected his weapons from my night table, and slipped them into place. Then he leaned down and gave me one last kiss. "I'll see you later. Don't go crazy, Babe."

"See you later," I whispered back as I combed my fingers through his hair and smiled. "Don't get shot." He flashed me a smile and kissed my nose, then he stood and left the room. I heard the front door open, close, and lock before I closed my eyes and wondered what the hell was happening between us.

88888888888

That question kept me from falling back to sleep. Every time I closed my eyes I wondered about him not wanting to date me. It kind of made me mad, which wasn't rational at all since I didn't want to date him either. I hated dating. Once you define a relationship as dating there are all those weird, new expectations and I don't do well with expectations.

You could ask my ex that. He expected me to change my entire life for him and I wouldn't give an inch. I failed to meet any of his expectations, because I was under the impression that if you loved someone you accepted them the way they were, unsafe job and all. I guess that's why we didn't last.

Dating Ranger would be a whole different thing, he wasn't anything like Joe. Still I had no idea what Ranger would expect from someone he dated. I didn't think accepting my job would be a problem, he always accepted me as I was. As I thought about it, I could only imagine it'd be more about me accepting his job and what came with it, like bodyguards, safe houses, and carrying a gun on my belt. I wasn't real keen on any of those things.

So I concluded that we had a good thing going here, all the benefits of a boyfriend without any of the fuss. It was like I could have my cake and eat it too. Mm, cake. I'll have to remember to stop at The Tasty Pastry for their day old birthday cake.

At six I grumbled to myself and crawled out of bed wondering what it was people did this frickin early in the day. It wasn't like the mall was open. With nothing else to do, I chugged down a couple cups of coffee, cleaned the entire apartment, and my hamster, Rex's cage. Then I figured I'd take a quick shower and head to the office.

It was still only nine in the morning when I arrived at the office with a half sheet of chocolate cake topped with butter cream frosting. It said _Happy Anniversary Bob and Carol_ in green frosting and had a lot of pink roses. I wasn't sure how they'd forgotten to pick up their cake, but I did know if my husband forgot my anniversary cake he'd have hell to pay for the next year. Seriously, forget gifts, I just need a cake. Not that I'd ever have to worry about that, hell, even my first marriage ended before we could celebrate our one year anniversary.

"What's with the look?" Connie asked. "You got cake. Life is good."

I shrugged at her as I plopped the giant cake on the small table alongside her desk. She pulled out a knife and we dug in, eating over the trash can since we didn't have plates to catch the crumbs. I was on my second palm sized square when Lula whirled into the office and looked at me.

"Oh, cake, hell yeah," she said with an eyebrow waggle. She tossed her handbag onto the couch and grabbed her own slice of cake. "What's wrong with you?"

I rolled my eyes as I looked up at her. "Can't a girl just want cake?"

"Sure, but not you," she answered. "You use cake to help you deal with your emotions. You're a stress eater."

"I'm a stress eater? You never stop eating," I growled back at her before grabbing a third slice of cake.

She just shook her head at me. "I've just got an abnormally high metabolism. I got to keep up with all the fuel I'm burning or I won't be able to back-up your skinny ass."

"Uh, huh." Like I believed that for one moment. There was no way she burned off all the crap she put into her body. Besides, she wasn't much of a back-up.

"How do you think I stay in this great a shape?" she asked. I'd say she was a size eighteen, not really what most would consider great shape. "Now, you, on the other hand. You get stressed and start eating the cake and the next thing you know you're bulging out of all your clothes. How do you expect Batman to commit to an overweight, cake eater?"

"I don't want Ranger to commit to me," I growled back before taking a fourth piece of the cake. "And I'm not overweight, much."

"Girl, you got it bad. Just admit it," she answered with a laugh.

"Got what bad?"

"You want that man, forever," Lula grinned.

"That's ridiculous," I huffed back at her.

Connie laughed then. "You're trying to make yourself uncommitable."

"That's not even a word," I complained.

"You're wondering why he won't commit, but you don't want to think about it. So instead, you're trying to make yourself alright with a casual relationship," Connie explained. "I bet you're saying you're no good at commitments and trying to be breezy, but it won't work."

"Mm hmm, it won't work, because you want the commitment and your body is starting to stress about your denial," Lula agreed. "That's why it needs cake."

"I'm not in denial."

"Girl, you live in denial," Lula said with a sigh. "You need to admit what you want and go after it."

"I have what I want." I seriously didn't want to have this conversation. What did they know anyway, they were both single too. "I've had nine nights of Ranger induced bliss and we have plans for tonight again. What more could I want?"

"You're planning your booty calls now?" Connie asked.

I rolled my eyes again and grabbed a fifth piece of cake. "We're sharing dinner."

Lula started to bounce around then. "Dinner? Like a date?"

"No, just two people, alone, sharing a meal," I repeated his words from earlier.

"Shiiit, that's a date," Lula laughed.

"It's not a date."

"Did he ask you?" I nodded yes. "And you agreed." I nodded yes. "And he's taking you out? Alone?" I nodded yes again. "And you're going to have sex afterward?" I shrugged and nodded yes. "Steph, that's a date," Connie concluded.

I sighed loudly. "It's not a date."

"Where are you going?" Lula asked.

"He said that I should text him or call him later with a time and place." Their mouths dropped open as they stared at me. "What? He said I could have whatever I wanted. I'm not sure what to pick though."

"He's leaving this up to you," Connie grinned. "Do you know what that means?"

"What?"

"It means if you want a romantic and sexy date you can have it," she fanned herself as she thought about that.

"It's not a date," I growled again.

"Sure, if you pick up pizza from Pino's and eat in front of the TV in your sweats," Connie said.

I glared at her for the reference to me and Joe's date nights. The girls never understood how I considered them dates, but we were eating, alone together, and were definitely going to have sex. "Awe, crap," I muttered. "This is a date."

"Mm hmm," Lula agreed. "My guess is that he didn't want to scare your skinny ass saying the date word again so he called it dinner." I felt like I was going to puke. I ate too much cake. "Now we need to come up with something romantic so he knows you want it."

"Want what?"

"Geez, Steph," Connie muttered. "A relationship."

"I don't want a relationship," I practically cried as I grabbed a sixth piece of the cake.

"Don't worry, we'll plan everything for you," Lula told me as she patted my shoulder reassuringly.

I laid down on the couch and stuffed the last of the butter cream rose into my mouth. My life was a disaster.


	4. Chapter 3

****Author's notes…hey readers, it's been an awful week. I broke my arm right above my wrist and have been in massive amounts of pain or pretty drugged up since the 22****nd****. I had a good chunk of this chapter written before I was injured and the rest was slow going with one hand typing and typo corrections. I don't know how long I will be before I update this story or Thought Journals as I haven't written any further ahead on them. I will not be working on The Five Year Plan until my cast is off for sure. I do have a couple things I started writing and haven't posted that maybe I will edit and play with one-handed here, but I don't know. I also had a few really, weird Vicodin-induced story ideas that I might get crazy enough to try, who knows. Thank you for all the reviews and follows on this one, they are appreciated and I hopefully won't be gone for too long on these stories. I'm hoping the pain will subside some when it's recasted in ten days. Then hopefully I can write again.****

**Chapter 3**

I was picking through clothes at Macy's when my phone rang. I groaned when I recognized the phone number. Lula.

"Hello," I answered.

"We got it," she yelled into the phone. "You get a dress yet?"

"No."

"Good. You need to find something flirty and romantic. We're going on a picnic," she told me.

"A picnic? Like outside, with the bugs?"

"This is the perfect place. We're going to the Grounds for Sculpture. I ordered us a picnic dinner from the Peacock Café and found the perfect spot to lay out the blanket."

"Does Ranger really strike you as the picnic kind of guy?" I grumbled at her.

"No, but you have to change his game plan. You need to romance his fine ass. That's why I got us a picnic. That's as romantic as kissing in the rain."

"Kissing in the rain isn't romantic, it just ruins your hair, and what do you mean us?"

"Bobby and me are coming with you," she explained. "Like a double date. So you don't fuck this shit up again."

"We are not going on a double date."

"This is in the terms of our bet. You have to let me do my thing to prove my point."

I sighed then. "And a double date picnic is going to prove something?"

"Mm hmm," she said. "Just call Ranger and let him know the plan. He can ride with Bobby, he knows the spot."

"Uh, is he going home with Bobby too?"

"You're dumb sometimes. Bobby's coming home in my baby and you'll go home in Ranger's baby. Got it?"

"I'm dumb? I'm not the one that calls my car my baby."

"That's because you don't want to think about your baby blowing up weekly. Now call him, six o'clock." Then she hung up on me.

Unbelievable. I looked down at my phone. I wasn't really going to do this, was I? I sighed to myself before I pushed the speed dial button to call Ranger.

"Yo," he answer on the second ring. Crap. I was hoping it'd go to voicemail.

"Yo," I answered softly. "Uh, so I was wondering if you wanted to go to dinner with Lula and Bobby tonight."

"Lula and Bobby?"

"Um, yeah, they're dating or something and she wants to do a double date thing," I told him, though as soon as I heard the date word come out of my mouth I tried to back pedal it. "We can totally do something else or we can just skip dinner or whatever…"

I could hear his smile as soon as he spoke. I figured my uncomfortable, babbling had amused him, again. "No, let's do it."

"What?"

"When and where?"

"Huh? Oh, uh, at six, at Grounds for Sculpture. You and Bobby should meet us there. Alright?" I couldn't believe he just agreed to this ridiculous plan.

"As long as you're the one coming home with me," he answered in a low, deep voice that shot straight to my doodah.

"Mm hmm," I agreed.

"Alright. Later, Babe." Then he was gone and my phone was silent. Did that really happen?

I turned to look at the rack of sundresses in front of me. I wasn't about to sit on the ground in a mini-dress, not that I'd mind flashing my goodies at Ranger, but this is supposed to be classy, I think. I grabbed a bright blue, bandeau style maxi-dress and some silver strappy sandals. The jersey material was clingy and there was a fairly good slit up the back of the leg. It wasn't super sexy, but it looked cute and classy. Besides, it gave me a reason to buy a new bra and panty set at Victoria's Secret.

888888888888

By five o'clock my hair was curled and pulled into a beachy-looking, low pony that hung over my left shoulder. My dress and shoes were looking perfect and I was just putting the finishing touches on my mascara and lip gloss. Lula knocked on my door only a few minutes later.

"Hot damn, you clean up good," she cooed as she strutted into my apartment.

"You too. Wow," I told her and meant it. This whole new look she's been trying looked amazing on her. She was wearing a knee length gray pencil skirt and a dark purple satin top with fluttery sleeves that matched her Via Spigas perfectly.

"Hunh, our men will be eating out of our hands by the end of the night," she told me.

I scrunched up my nose. I wasn't really into the idea of Ranger eating out of my hand. He's definitely the kind of man I didn't want to tame. I liked his wild, dominate nature. It made things a lot more interesting in the bedroom, that's for sure. "Okay, well, let's do this."

She nodded and headed for the door with me on her heels. "Just be cool," she told me as we got out of the elevator.

"I'm cool." She gave me a look that said I wasn't. "What?"

"Every time he comes near you, you get all twitchy and blush. You can't even talk to the man. I got no idea how you manage to get him in your bed," she told me.

"We talk," I argued.

"Not about work? Or sex?"

I rolled my eyes. That couldn't be true. We talked about other stuff. I'm sure of it. "He's not really a small talk kind of guy."

"You make him talk or you don't give him any," she told me. "He needs to respect you if you're gonna be dating. You're not just a piece of ass."

"He doesn't think I'm just a piece of ass," I told her, but even as I said the words I heard his voice echoing through my mind, telling me that the way he loved me came with a condom, not a ring. Crap. I wasn't about to admit Lula was right about any of this.

I was trying not to pout about it as we pulled into the Grounds for Sculpture lot. I was being ridiculous again. I had come to terms with the relationship that we had. I didn't want the whole commitment and marriage thing anyway. A condom was what my love called for too. I didn't want or need a ring. He was just hot, convenient sex, that's it. Who needed conversation when they could have multiple orgasms?

Lula handed me two blankets before she headed into the café. I shuffled along behind her wishing I would have driven myself. It'd be easier to bolt. Now I was stuck here, at the mercy of her and Ranger. Maybe he wouldn't show up.

The girl at the counter handed us each a basket and told us they had already been paid for. Lula gave me a big smile then and said, "Looks like Batman is taking care of you again."

I just rolled my eyes at her. Yeesh, everyone knows Ranger is ready and willing to drop money for me. It's just his way. He's a gentleman. In fact, I couldn't imagine paying for a date with him, not that this was a date. Okay, so I couldn't imagine him allowing me to pay for anything, even if he is sneaky about it I always know that he's dropping money on me, a job here, a tank of gas there, maybe even a fridge stocked with food once and a while. I figure if I don't acknowledge that he did it, then I can ignore that I should be angry about it. I guess this time there was no ignoring it, but he did ask so he should pay, right? But that's date mentality, crap.

"What's your problem?" Lula asked as she pointed us toward the gardens.

"Nothing," I mumbled back.

"Sure, I believe that," she said with a sarcastic laugh.

"How did you even get Bobby to agree to this?"

Lula laughed a deep, hard laugh then. "Girl, you can get men to do whatever you want them to. You just need to give them the proper motivation."

"Eww, I don't want to know."

She shrugged then. "He gets his treat when we get home tonight." Definite yuck. "Now, we should talk about how you can get Ranger on the commitment train."

"What the hell could I offer him that he couldn't get without a fuss somewhere else?" I grumbled at her.

"You must have something he wants if he's still here after all these years," she answered. "You just need to figure out what it is and use it."

I sighed then. "I'm not going to manipulate him." Like that was even possible anyway.

"This here is the spot," she announced before putting her basket down and taking one of the blankets from me.

I looked at the spot near a wildflower patch and scrunched up my nose. Flowers equal bugs in my book and I don't like bugs in my food. "Why don't we move a little," I suggested.

"No, this is perfect." I didn't know what she was up to, but it had to be something. This spot was way too specific.

I spread the blanket alongside hers and moved the basket to the edge, before arranging myself onto the blanket so I could peek at the food. I was surprised to find a bottle of wine and a pair of goblets on the top. Nice. I could use a drink, or three.

I wasn't sitting there more than a few minutes before I felt something crawling on my shoulder. I went to hit it, but saw it was just a ladybug. I picked it up and blew it off my fingers. Lula was watching with a big smile on her face. "What?"

She still just grinned. "Wait for it," she said. As if by magic Ranger appeared in front of us. She really squealed then. "Fuckin A, I knew it!"

"What?" I questioned. I was confused, plus I was having problems tearing my eyes off Ranger. Damn, the man looked sexy in jeans and a dark green polo shirt, which was clearly made to tempt every woman with a pulse. The cut drew the eyes to his biceps, which looked bigger and sexier than ever. The color brought out the dark shade of his perfect mocha latte skin so well I just wanted to divest him of the shirt and rub myself against his chest. He smiled when he saw me and I was glad I was already sitting, because a flash of his perfect white teeth on his handsome face was enough to knock anyone over.

Lula snapped her fingers in my face to gain back my attention. She handed me her cell phone which had an article open. I read the top sentence, "_If a single girl catches a ladybug and then releases it, the direction in which it flies away will be the direction from which her future husband will come_."

"You're joking, right?" I laughed at her. That was ridiculous.

"No. You caught a ladybug and blew it away. The next thing you know there is your man, right there. How is that a coincidence? You have to admit I'm right about this. You want to marry him," she told me.

I just gave her my best Burg glare and shh'd her. The guys were in ear shot now. They did not need to hear what she was saying. Yeesh, I didn't need to hear this. She was clearly crazy.

"Babe," Ranger said smiling at me. Before I knew it he had me lifted off the ground and pressed against that massive, hard chest of his. Yum. His lips pressed to mine in a nearly chaste kiss, he may have slipped in a little tongue, and it may have had me melting against him. Did I say yum? "You look gorgeous in this dress," he whispered in my ear huskily. The way he said it made me think he'd rather see it on his floor and that thought pretty much ruined my panties, instantly.

"You look gorgeous yourself," I whispered back. I knew I'd rather see him without the shirt, or anything else.

"Good to know, Babe," he smirked before he planted another kiss on my lips. I felt my cheeks flame as I hoped I hadn't said the last part out loud.

"We should eat so we can get out of here," I told him as I reluctantly stepped out of his embrace.

We settled onto the blanket together, close enough that our legs were touching and he could keep his left hand on me, which he did except when he was using it to pour the wine. I looked inside the basket at the salads, turkey sandwiches, and bowl of grapes. I searched for the dessert, but it was missing. It wasn't like I needed it after the cake I'd already eaten today, but something sweet on my tongue was always appreciated at the end of a meal.

I looked over at Lula and Bobby, who were making out on the other blanket. "That is your fault," I told Ranger. "You had him drive her home."

"They seem happy," he grinned back at me. "Besides, it's not my fault. Who can resist a romantic picnic?"

I laughed at that. Between the other couple and the ladybugs that seemed to keep bothering me, I wasn't feeling it. "Is that what this is?"

"Not yet," he whispered in my ear. "But if we move the blanket away from the live sex show and the Queen Anne's lace I think we could have something."

"Queen Anne's lace?" I asked.

"The white flowers," he pointed toward the nearby flowerbed. "They attract ladybugs."

Of course they did, which was why Lula choose this spot and had her superstition all ready to go on her phone. That absolutely didn't count. Yeesh. She almost had me giving that one a second thought. Okay, so maybe there was a tiny part of me that still wanted to believe silly romantic things like that and day dreamed of marrying my knight in shining armor, but I tried to keep that part well hidden.

"Okay," I told him. "Bring on the romance."

"You sure you can handle it, Babe?" he teased.

"I can handle anything you got," I teased back.

He pressed a peck to my lips and sprung to his feet, giving me a hand up. He tossed back his glass of wine quickly and looked at me in challenge, so I chugged mine down too. The wine glasses were tucked into the basket with the other items before he picked it and the blanket up. We set out, away from Lula and Bobby and I'm pretty sure they didn't notice. Maybe they needed the "be aware of your surroundings" speech from Ranger instead of me this time.

I wasn't sure where Ranger was taking me, but we followed the winding paths, uncovering hidden sculptures hidden among the foliage and trees until we came out near a pond. My hand was still in Ranger's as he turned me to walk on the grass near the water.

We suddenly came upon a sculpture of a barely dressed woman bathing on the side of the pond. "Wow, is this what you're into, Carlos?" I teased him. "Should I be bathing in the river?"

He dropped the basket and I suddenly found myself pressed against the side of a tree as his lips captured mine. Just as I was starting to lose myself to the sensation, his lips moved to my neck, then up to my ear. "No, I prefer you in my shower," he whispered. Oh, holy crap. I let a soft moan escape my lips as his thumb brushed my nipple and he continued his torturous kiss on my neck.

He stepped back and led me around the tree, where the rest of the sculpture was set up. Two men, fully dressed in old fashioned clothing sat on the grass with a fully nude woman facing them. What the heck? "The Lunch on the Grass," Ranger whispered. "It's how I imagined a picnic with you."

What? "What?" I asked as I tipped my head to the side to see it better.

"I'd like to strip you naked and enjoy your beauty while I have my dinner," he told me. I lifted both eyebrows in horrified shock, until I saw the corners of his lips tip up and his eyes crinkle a little. He was trying not to laugh, the turd.

"Well, perhaps we could have arranged that if you had brought a friend. We can't reenact that without two men," I shot back. "Tank, or maybe Hal. No, Lester, he's wanted to see me naked for years."

Ranger's eye darkened as he looked at me. "You win, Babe. I'm not about to share you with my men."

I grabbed him by the collar and pulled him against me. "Who says I belong to you?" I whispered to him.

"Possession in nine tenths of the law," he growled as he closed the last inch between us again. As his lips moved over mine I began to agree. I really did belong to him more than either of us would admit. His hands roamed over my body as he broke the kiss so he could look into my eyes. "And I plan to possess you every chance I get." Oh. Boy.

When we finally broke apart from the next kiss I was breathless. I watched Ranger pick up the blanket and spread it on the grass a few feet from the water. I picked up the basket and joined him. I pulled out the salads and a couple bottles of water. I wasn't sure if I was ready for another glass of wine yet. If I had one now there was a good shot he'd be able to talk me out of my clothes right here. He didn't argue with the decision either. We just ate the salads in companionable silence.

"Think Lula noticed we're gone yet?" I finally asked.

Ranger nodded yes and smiled, "No way Bobby could last this long." I laughed at that. They did look like they were more than halfway done when we walked away. "So, why did Lula want to do a double date?"

I felt the blush creep up my cheeks. I couldn't tell him the truth, but I didn't want to lie either. "She's convinced we should _date_ and was trying to make this romantic, I think."

He handed me my turkey sandwich. I watch him quietly. He seemed to be thinking. "She doesn't think we know how to date?" he finally asked.

"That about sums it up," I agreed. "Why did Bobby go along with it?"

"Lula knows how to give a fifty dollar blow job."

It was said so matter-of-factly that I couldn't help but laugh. "How do you determine what a blowjob is worth?" I asked.

He laughed then. "I'm not sure. I never bought one."

"Mm hmm," I agreed. He was definitely the freebee kind of guy.

"You thinking of charging?" he teased as he tugged my ponytail lightly.

"Of course not, there's no price for what we give each other," I teased back.

He leaned back on his elbows and stretched his legs out in front of himself as he smiled at me. "Aside from reciprocation."

"That's not a price, that's a condition." Not that I'd ever have to negotiate that with Ranger. He never scrimped on the kissing, everywhere.

"Touché," he grinned.

I snuggled against him, laying my head on his chest. He laid back fully and wrapped his arms around me. We just laid there, enjoying the quiet and each other for a long time, well, until we heard a camera and a woman say, "That looks so real."

Ranger winked at me and let a hushed, "Shh," escape his lips. I fought the urge to laugh at the couple thinking we were another sculpture. A minute after they walked away we started to laugh, hard.

Ranger finally kissed my forehead, nose, and lips lightly. His fingers moved over my cheeks as he looked at me. "Babe," he said quietly. "Maybe we should go on a real date, without Lula."

"How will that work?" I asked as I stared back at him.

"I don't know," he answered. "We could google dating?" I laughed as I collapsed back onto his chest. The rumble of his laughter under my ear made me feel good. I liked this man.


End file.
